Klaus Nomi - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Filmmakers such as Andrew Horn and writers such as Jim Fouratt consider Nomi an important part of the 1980s East Village scene, which was a hotbed of development for punk rock, music, the visual arts, and the avant-garde. Although Nomi's work had not yet met with national commercial success at the time of his death, he garnered a cult following, mainly in New York and in France.

Andrew Horn's 2004 feature documentary about Nomi's life, The Nomi Song, which was released by Palm Pictures, helped spur renewed interest in the singer, including an art exhibit in San Francisco at the New Langton Arts gallery and one in Milan (Italy) at the Res Pira Lab, which subsequently moved to Berlin's Strychnin Gallery, called "Do You Nomi?". New music pieces inspired by Nomi were commissioned by the gallery from a variety of up and coming European musicians, among these the singer who is considered by many Nomi's heir, Ernesto Tomasini.

In 2001 German band Rosenstolz, featuring alternative pop stars Marc Almond and Nina Hagen, covered "Total Eclipse" for a maxi single CD release.

British pop icon Morrissey used the song Wayward Sisters as an introduction prior to appearing on stage to begin a concert for his Kill Uncle tour. He used the song After the Fall in the same way during his 2007 American tour. Morrissey included Nomi's song Death in his compilation of influential songs titled Under the Influence, after selecting it in 1984 as the last track for his appearance on the BBC radio show 'My Top 10'. Morrissey also chose Nomi's version of Schumann's "Der Nussbaum" ("The Walnut Tree") as one his selections on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" in November 2009.

On television, a fictionalized version of Klaus Nomi appears in a two-part episode of animated comedy/adventure series The Venture Bros. This version is a super-villain and bodyguard for David Bowie (who in the Venture Brothers universe, is also a shape-shifting super-villain known as "The Sovereign") and possesses sonic scream powers.

Nomi's cover of Lesley Gore's 1964 hit "You Don't Own Me" has been featured on the nationally broadcast The Rush Limbaugh Show as the "Gay Update Theme".

Nomi's visual aesthetic has been noted as an influence on women's fashion such as Boudicca, Givenchy, and Paco Rabanne, as well as men's fashion designers such as Gareth Pugh and Bruno Pieters for Hugo Boss. Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 2009 couture was influenced by Nomi and he used Nomi's recording of Nomi Song in his runway show.

Kazakh-American tenor Timur Bekbosunov, profiled in LA Weekly's Best of LA People 2011 issue as 'The Reform Tenor', recorded Total Eclipse and performed it on America's Got Talent Season 10 with his dark glam opera band, Timur and the Dime Museum, and composer of the song, Kristian Hoffman, at the piano. According to Kristian Hoffman, "Timur sang Total Eclipse to the utter befuddlement of the panel of judges, with the exception of Sharon Osbourne who gave some encouragement".

A biographical musical titled You Don't Nomi is in development by French playwright Baptiste Delval and director Nicolas Guilleminot. The title role is assigned to singer Matthieu d'Aurey who will share the stage with actor Denis d'Arcangelo. The play was presented in Paris on June 10, 2011 during a public reading. The team is looking for producers.